The group managed to finally arrive at Taei Station. As everyone parked their vehicles, Matsushima was glomped by another female officer with short light brown hair that had bangs pushed to the right side of her face where it partially obscured the right side of her face and blue eyes.

"Asami is so happy you've returned!"

"Officer Nakaoka, this officer has told you the proper manners many times. You will refer to yourself as 'this officer' while preforming your duties." Matsushima reprimanded.

"Sorry, you're right. Asami… this officer will try to do better."

"I don't think you need to stand on ceremony here. This situation is hardly what you'd call normal." Double-D said as he approached the two ladies.

"That may be so, but this officer will continue to train Officer Nakaoka properly."

"Fair enough, I suppose."

Asami then gasped when she saw Tank and gave a hasty salute his way.

"O-Officer Nakaoka, Tokonosu police department. My thanks for assisting my sempai." Asami said. "I've heard about you, Corporal Tank Dempsey!"

Matsushima knocked her lightly on the head. "This officer is your SUPERIOR, not your sempai."

"Right," she said knocking her head with her tongue slightly sticking out. "My apologies, Asami… this officer isn't a very good police officer."

The Fujimi Crew could see the group of mall survivors looking decidedly mutinous at her admission.

"Clearly. You are out of uniform, Officer Nakaoka." Tank said, taking a more serious tone.

She twisted left and right looking at herself. "I am?"

"Yes, you are. Kohta!" The boy in question jogged over. "Officer Nakaoka seems to have misplaced her service revolver."

"Heh, don't worry, I picked up a few lost items that I think can be found." Matthew chuckled as he tossed Kohta one of the guns he picked up from the dead police officer back at Rika's pad, which he then handed to Tank who then handed it to Asami.

Asami slowly reached for the gun, but the moment it was in her hand, it was like her confidence shot through the roof.

"A Smith & Wesson M37 air weight. Yes, this officer has trained with this revolver in the academy."

"Kohta, hook her up with some ammo," Ben said, playfully nudging his best friend.

"Officer Matsushima, we should debrief in whatever you have for an HQ here," Matthew spoke.

She nodded. "We'll use the security office, this way."

The officers walked off with a few mall survivors and the Fujimi Crew following.

A Japanese man was meditating amongst the other survivors at the mall. He wore WWI Japanese Imperial Army fatigues and had a mustache/goatee combo. He also had a katana sheathed on his side.

"I can only pray that my comrades have survived the ordeals ahead..."

As if the Gods had finally answered his week-long prayers, a familiar voice echoed in his ears.

"Takeo, is that you?! I knew you were alive, you badass son of a bitch!"

Takeo Masaki opened his eyes to see two of his close comrades approaching. A smile graced his lips as he stood up.

"Dempsey, Nikolai, it is a great blessing that you are alive in these dark times."

"Heh, knew Umbrella and their hellspawns couldn't keep our mighty Bushido warrior down," Nikolai smirked, slapping Takeo on the back.

"Masaki-Sensei?"

Takeo turned to see Saeko approaching and a grateful look washed over him. The two bowed to each other respectfully.

"Busujima-San. It is good to see you have also survived this travesty that has ravaged our lands."

"And you as well, Masaki-Sensei."

Meanwhile, Officer Matsushima was talking with Double-D, Eddy, Matthew, Takashi, and Ben.

"Man, the mall is the perfect place for a lot of survivors," Matthew noted as he looked around. "Just look at how Dead Rising played out."

"Don't know how we're gonna fit all these people on the bus," Eddy muttered.

"What about that Humvee? How many can fit in there?" Matsushima asked.

Ben shook his head. "No good. The back and the rear seats are loaded with the guns and gear we took from my house. It might be possible to rearrange it for two more passengers but it'll be uncomfortable. There's enough hardware in there to supply a platoon of troops for weeks."

"No shit!? Well, break 'em out, man! I want something big and belt-fed." One young man who had the typical look of a punk excitedly exclaimed.

"Yeah, that ain't happening. We've only just met and I doubt we can trust any of you right now." Matthew snarked.

"Right now, we need to ensure the safety of the civilians and find a way to get us all out of here," Matsushima said.

"Excuse me. This couple will be needing medical attention." Asami said as she gestured to a kind old couple.

"What's the matter?" Shizuka asked.

"Oh, nothing to fret over, dear. I'll just be needing my blood transfusion by tomorrow." The old woman said with a dismissive gesture. "We were on our way home from the clinic when all this madness happened, and we took shelter here. I get them about every other week or so. I can safely go a couple of days past the scheduled transfusion but I've been feeling faint lately so it must be drawing near."

"Shizuka, please get her comfortable and find out what her ailment is," Takashi said.

"I'll send a codec to my old man and see if he can arrange a medevac to Tokonosu Hospital," Ben added as he turned back to the officers. "How are you for supplies otherwise?"

"There's a grocery store on the first floor. We were planning to smoke or dry the meat there to preserve it. Since the power just went out yesterday, we think it should still be good." Asami answered.

"What about sporting goods? Sports equipment makes for surprisingly good weapons and armor against the zombies." Takashi asked.

"But my bat broke when I fought that big monster!" Ed pointed out nearby.

"I can forge you a new one, Ed!" Double-D reassured. "Just need some nails and a fresh new baseball bat!"

"There's one upstairs on the south side. They got lots of baseball gear." The punk-looking dude said.

"What about sleeping arrangements?" Double-D asked next.

"We've been using the beds in the furniture store on the first floor." A young woman who was part of the mall survivor group answered.

"Yeah, they got some good beds." Eddy nodded.

Everyone went back and forth for half an hour listing assets and liabilities. They arranged a watch rotation to keep an eye on the perimeter of the mall and ensure the zombies or whatever biological monsters Umbrella cooked up couldn't get in.

Ben radioed his parents and they were already prepping a helicopter for the next day to get three other emergency cases across the city to the hospital. The group's location was well within the fuel constraints so they were added to the pickup list with an ETA of noon.

The other mall survivors clamored for a ride on the chopper but were shut down. The air resources were for emergencies at this point. Fuel was a finite resource until refineries could be run again. Besides, a mass evacuation was scheduled for three days from now at Shintoko Third Elementary.

Takashi was extremely interested in this since his mom was a teacher there. He had Ben contact Soichiro to let him know that they would be taking their survivors to the evacuation site instead of the manor.

Plans were made, shot down, and re-made long into the night. Eventually, everyone needed to get to sleep so Ben, Saeko, and Takeo took the first watch as the others headed for the beds in the furniture store. They checked every way in and out of the mall. Officer Matsushima had done an excellent job, the mall was locked down tight.

"You have taken good care of my pupil, Torekuroshi-San." Takeo noted to Ben, who nodded.

"I dare say we've been taking care of each other."

"But that suit...I recognize it."

"You do?" Ben asked hopefully. "My parents say I was born with it inside me but it didn't come out until the outbreak first started."

"It is not my place to tell, young one," Takeo said. "But I will tell you this; that suit...could very be the weapon needed to save humanity and stop the madness Umbrella has spread across the world."

Ben didn't know what to think as he looked at his hands. There were still so many mysteries about this suit that he needed to learn about but for right now, what Takeo had told him would suffice. Still, he wasn't so sure about saving humanity.

"How can one suit stop an outbreak like this?"

The next morning was rather slow. The civilians woke from as early as 5:00 AM in the case of the old couple to as late as 10:00 AM with the student from another high school. It didn't matter, there was work for everyone and it would keep until they woke.

Ed and Eddy found a box truck that kicked over immediately and Matthew, Tank, and a couple of the Mall Survivors found two minivans that started once they changed the batteries with fresh ones from a small auto parts store. Ed used his sheer strength to back the truck into a dock door, and everyone started loading supplies as meat was smoked on the roof.

"Hard to get a good steak these days." Tank said as he helped himself to some of the meat.

One of the civilians found a battery-powered radio and played with the knob hoping to find some music to soothe the nerves. Most of the stations were repeating a broadcast from the SDF announcing evacuation sites and giving survival advice and tips to avoid the dead, particularly the fact that they were deaf so silence was the best defense. Of course, the Fujimi Squad already knew this but it was helpful for the mall survivors at least.

"There are also other monsters roaming these lands," Nikolai warned.

Ed nodded, having drawn surprisingly detailed sketches of the Lickers, Smokers, Hunters, Tanks, Boomers, and even Mr. X and Nemesis.

Half an hour to noon, an SDF Attack helicopter arrived and hovered at the far end of the parking lot from where the group had coordinated the medivac Landing Zone. It had been planned so that the zombies would be drawn away from the LZ into a kill box. It stayed there, hovering, as it started sweeping its chin gun back and forth mowing down zombies.

When the LZ was clear, Eddy threw some smoke bomb fireworks he'd found to mark a spot for the rescue helo. The extraction was done in just a few minutes, mostly delayed by how slowly the old couple moved. The flight crew left a small box of signal flares and smoke grenades for future extractions. Before long, both helicopters departed.

"Troubling news, comrades!" Rolf alerted. "A motor vehicle was struck and the demons are arriving!"

Sure enough, it was seen that a car that must have survived the EMP had been hit during the helicopter's sweep attack. The alarm was blaring for an hour after the helos left. The dead swarmed from all over and the civilians were getting nervous.

"Don't worry, I think I can handle this," Tank smirked. "After all, I got a contact with Ben's old man!"

"Well, if you can call him, do it now!" Double-D hurriedly said.

"Got it!" Tank smirked as he flipped out a satellite phone and contacted Gerald. After a brief bit of talking between the two of them, he held up his hand and counted down from five.

As soon as he reached zero, the survivors heard a massive BRRT sound. When it was over, small chunks were all that was left of the horde that had accumulated at the far end of the parking lot.

"Damn, it pays to be an army man!"

By the end of the day, our group of survivors were prepared. They had several stops planned for the next day before they were scheduled to arrive at Shintoko just after noon, including the East Police Station. Everyone went to bed early. They'd be up before the sun the next morning.

Saya was curled up with Eddy, the two of them just taking the time to relax. After the... 'incident' at the Takagi Manor, the two had stuck by closer together, none of their usual snark-to-snark combat being exchanged.

As Eddy thought about what to do if this whole mess managed to somehow be resolved, he felt Saya fall asleep on his shoulder, her head resting against him as he blushed before gingerly stroking her head, simply enjoying her company.

"Those brats..." Wesker snarled.

Nemesis and Mr. X were both incapacitated and while Nemesis would take a while, he would regenerate. Mr. X still needed another day to recuperate before he could be deployed once more.

"Still, I'm sure the dog I sent loose will have his time to play..."

The Umbrella CEO grinned viciously as he saw the tracking cam he had on his little...project.

"Yes, Shido, you will have your revenge in due time."

Next Time: Family Reunions!